John Fortune
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John Courtney Fortune (born John Courtney Wood; 30 June 1939 – 31 December 2013) was an English actor, writer and satirist, best known for his work with John Bird and Rory Bremner on the television series Bremner, Bird and Fortune.<ref name="BFI">Template:Cite web</ref>
Early life
[edit]Fortune was born John Courtney Wood in Bristol on 30 June 1939.<ref name="Kennedy">Template:Cite news</ref> He was educated at Bristol Cathedral School and King's College, Cambridge, where he was to meet and form a lasting friendship with John Bird.<ref name="Kennedy"/>
Career
[edit]Fortune's early work included contributions to Peter Cook's Establishment Club team<ref name="Kennedy"/> in 1962, and as a regular member of the cast of the BBC-TV satire show Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life, both alongside Eleanor Bron and John Bird. Fortune and Bird also worked together on the TV show A Series of Birds in 1967, and Fortune and Bron wrote and performed a series of sketches for TV in Where Was Spring? in 1969. In 1971, with John Wells, he published the comic novel A Melon for Ecstasy, about a man who consummates his love affair with a tree. He appeared with Peter Sellers in a Barclays Bank television commercial in 1980, shortly before Sellers' death.
Along with writing several series for the BBC, in 1982 Fortune appeared in an episode of the BBC sitcom Yes Minister, as an army officer who brings the minister's attention to British-made weapons getting into the hands of terrorists. In 1999, he starred with Warren Mitchell and Ken Campbell in Art at Wyndham's Theatre in London's West End.<ref name="Kennedy"/> He also appeared in the films Take A Girl Like You (1970), in which he shared a TV debate with John Bird, Kenny Everett's horror spoof Bloodbath at the House of Death (1984), England, My England (1995), Maybe Baby (2000), and Saving Grace (2000), and had a guest part in the sitcom Joking Apart.
In 1993, Fortune and Bird began co-starring with Rory Bremner in the sketch show Rory Bremner...Who Else? on Channel 4. In 1999, the show changed its name to Bremner, Bird and Fortune and continued until 2010, receiving several BAFTA nominations along the way.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Fortune's other work with John Bird included their series of satirical sketches The Long Johns, in which one interviewed the other, the latter being in the guise of a senior figure such as a politician, businessman or government consultant. The sketches earned several BAFTA award nominations, winning the Television Light Entertainment Performance award in 1997.<ref name="BAFTA1997">Template:Cite web</ref> In one episode, they were two of the very first to predict the 2008 financial crisis during an episode of The South Bank Show broadcast on 14 October 2007.<ref name=Prophecy>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In Fortune's latter years, he featured in the Radio 4 sitcom Ed Reardon's Week, playing the head of a literary agency and as theatrical agent Mel Simons in a 2008 episode of New Tricks.
Fortune died on 31 December 2013, aged 74.<ref name=SkyNews/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> His agent Vivienne Clore said he died peacefully, with his wife Emma and dog Grizelle at his bedside.<ref name=SkyNews>Template:Cite news</ref>
Filmography
[edit]| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | Take a Girl Like You | Sir Gerald Culthorpe-Jones | |
| 1982 | The Missionary | Schoolmaster's voice | Voice |
| 1984 | Bloodbath at the House of Death | John Harrison | |
| 1987 | Hardwicke House | Educational psychologist in Episode 3, "Interview Day" | Only the first two episodes of the series were shown, with the last five pulled. It was scheduled to be screened on ITV on 4 March 1987. In 2019, all seven episodes were uploaded to YouTube. |
| 1995 | England, My England | Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon | |
| 1999 | The Strange Case of Delfina Potocka: The Mystery of Chopin | Second official | |
| 2000 | Saving Grace | Melvyn | |
| 2000 | Maybe Baby | Acupuncturist | |
| 2001 | The Tailor of Panama | Maltby | |
| 2003 | Calendar Girls | Frank | |
| 2005 | Match Point | John the Chauffeur |
References
[edit]Further reading
[edit]External links
[edit]- Template:IMDb name
- John Fortune at Vivienne Clore
- Bremner, Bird and Fortune, "Best Political Satire -Television, 2003" – Political Studies Association Awards 2003
- Bird and Fortune: A Life in Television BAFTA filmed event, March 2009
- Obituary in The Independent by Marcus Williamson
Template:British Academy Television Award for Best Entertainment Performance Template:Authority control
- 1939 births
- 2013 deaths
- 20th-century English novelists
- Alumni of King's College, Cambridge
- Best Entertainment Performance BAFTA Award (television) winners
- English male comedians
- English male film actors
- English male radio actors
- English male stage actors
- English male television actors
- English male writers
- English satirists
- People educated at Bristol Cathedral Choir School
- Male actors from Bristol
- Comedians from Bristol